‘Punish bosses, not workers’

The employees of Africa News Network (ANN7), founded by the Guptas, are being punished for the sins of their bosses, National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa) said yesterday.

Announcing the decision not to renew ANN7’s contract on Wednesday, MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said although there was no evidence of corruption, MultiChoice had found there were some mistakes made in contractual negotiations between the two companies.

Numsa acting national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the decision to curtail ANN7’s contract was condemned as it was likely to lead to job cuts and some retrenchments.

Hlubi-Majola said employees of ANN7 were being unfairly condemned for their association with the Gupta family and President Jacob Zuma.

“Numsa has consistently said the Guptas must be investigated and criminally charged so the full extent of the corruption allegations can be ventilated in court and wrongdoers can be punished.

“The failure to do this has led to a situation where they are being tried through the court of public opinion.

“The decision by MultiChoice reflects this reality. The management couldn’t find any proof of corruption. The ‘procedural shortcomings’ were of their own making, but because of the intense negative publicity associated with the news network they made the decision to punish the station and its workers anyway.”

Hlubi-Majola said the decision had nothing to do with creating a space for balanced journalism.

“If ANN7’s crime is that it is partisan, then MultiChoice should also not renew the contracts of the SABC, eNCA, RT, CNN and all the other news networks.”

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has since said it would investigate MultiChoice over allegations of payments made to ANN7 and the SABC.

MultiChoice said that in a bid to replace ANN7 on DStv, it was looking at finding a new blackowned news channel which represents the majority of people in South Africa. This was welcomed by Communications Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane as a “progressive move”.

ANN7’s contract with DStv expires in August. – ANA